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COVID-19 response and economy of Chinese cities from the perspective of China Integrated City Index 2020

China.org.cn | Updated: 2022-01-06 20:46
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III. Expert comments

Zhao Qizheng, Yang Weimin, Qiu Xiaohua, Zhou Qiren, Zhou Nan, and Zhou Muzhi shared their insightful comments on the performance of Chinese cities in 2020 on the release of the China Integrated City Index 2020.

Zhao Qizheng, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication of Renmin University of China and former minister of the State Council Information Office

The China Integrated City Index 2020 has been released. In my opinion, the most distinct feature of the Index is that it focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzes its impact on Chinese cities based on multiple indexes.

Outbreaks causing unprecedented damage to human beings, such as the novel coronavirus one, are not frequently seen. The Index has carefully analyzed the impact of this major disaster on urban development, and these research results are of great value for dealing with similar situations in the future.

The novel coronavirus had borne down menacingly, and although countries around the world moved quickly to develop vaccines and effective cure, these efforts take time. China implemented comprehensive lockdown measures and the zero-COVID-19 policy in a timely manner, managing to make up for the time lag.

Countries around the world hold different views on its approach. Fortunately, due to Chinese cultural traditions, its people did not resist much to lockdown, quarantine, and face masks. Professor Zhou Muzhi and Cloud River Urban Research Institute have conducted studies on the effectiveness of China's anti-COVID-19 policies since the outbreak, which have played a good role in the international understanding and reference of China's anti-COVID-19 measures.

In the fight against the novel coronavirus, Chinese cities have given full play to the role of internet technology and made extensive use of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, blockchain, and other technologies to effectively prevent cross infection in the flow of people. The national health code and travel code have been accepted by the public and put into practice in China; however, these practices are not accepted in many other countries due to cultural and governance differences.

In 2020, COVID-19 had a profound impact on the social and economic development of cities in China and around the world. The analysis of the China Integrated City Index 2020 on 297 Chinese cities at and above the prefecture level is of great significance for understanding and evaluating anti-COVID-19 policies and COVID-19 impact on urban development. This is also a feature not presented by previous Indexes, so I hope it can draw the attention of municipal leaders and sociologists. Of course, this Index has its important value for foreign scholars and research institutes studying the pandemic to refer to.

Yang Weimin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, and former deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs of China

The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted everything, but Cloud River Urban Research Institute released its China Integrated City Index 2020 as scheduled. I said the Index is a health checkup of Chinese cities. A health checkup should be taken on a yearly basis no matter what happens. A health examination is more important during an outbreak.

The China Integrated City Index 2020 looks at the development of Chinese cities amid the outbreak and identifies their resilience and performances.

China has stood out among global major economies since the COVID-19 outbreak. Its economy grew by 2.3 percent in 2020, and grew by 9.8 percent in the first three quarters of 2021 and is expected to grow around 8 percent for the whole year, with per capita GDP reaching $12,000, up by 2,000 from 2020. Its strong showing was the result of the effective measures rolled out by the Chinese government, and also the result of the resilience of the Chinese economy. Its resilience lies in its complete industries, manufacturing capability, supporting industries, exporting capability of manufactured goods, and the cluster of industries. Such a distinctive resilience put the Chinese economy on a stable footing through foreign trade, even when China's domestic investment and consumption were hit by the epidemic. The US government can impose sanctions against Chinese companies, but cannot curb the strong demand of US consumers for Chinese goods. In 2020, Chinese net export in goods and services contributed 28 percent to China's economic growth, and contributed as high as 19.5 percent in the first three quarters of 2021, beating the highest level of 14.3 percent in 2006 before the international financial crisis.

The Index shows that the top 10 and the top 30 Chinese cities in terms of manufacturing radiation accounted for 44.2 percent and 71.7 percent of China's export volume, respectively, demonstrating their sound development and resilience.

Entering the new stage, China's economy will foster a new development paradigm featuring "dual circulations," with domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. Some Chinese countries are expected to continue to play a leading role in the new development paradigm.

Zhou Qiren, professor at the National School of Development of Peking University

The Index will become more relevant over time. The new edition allows audiences to examine the correlation between economic and social variants, which is essentially the complex connection between people and organization behavior in cities.

Here, "comparison" always occupies a basic and central position in empirical research. Any information that renders itself to comparison, therefore, is generally conducive to understanding and applying the law of urban comprehensive development. When it comes to comparison, Deng Xiaoping said during his visit to Singapore in 1978, "If you want to compare, compare with the world." His statement is worth revisiting. It is very important for domestic cities to compete with each other, and it is also important to learn from international modern cities. I suggest that Professor Zhou consider adding a group of international city data to the future "China Integrated City Index" to enrich comparison.

Qiu Xiaohua, vice chair of Cloud River Urban Research Institute and former head of the National Bureau of Statistics

My takeaways from the China Integrated City Index 2020 are as follows.

(1) A city's economic strength is still the determinant of its status. A city's future, its comprehensive strength and the realization of its goals rest on its economy.

(2) Green elements are more and more important. The city's green transformation stimulates its development potential. The change in the ranking of comprehensive strength is the result of the emphasis on green development.

(3) The development of social and public utilities becomes more and more important. The outbreak has dented economic and social development and affected people's livelihood, but it has also tested the emergency management facilities and capacities of cities. Those cities at the top of rankings tend to have comparative strengths in this regard.

(4) China's development has entered a new stage, setting the construction of a new pattern paradigm in motion. Chinese cities tend to form city clusters, ushering in an era that pays more attention to the leading role of central cities. We expect Chinese cities to foster a healthier development pattern.

Zhou Nan, deputy director-general of the Department of Development Planning of the National Development and Reform Commission

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 raged the world in 2020, disrupting people's lives and businesses. China has struck a balance between prevention and control measure, economic development, and social stability.

The Index revealed that the top 30 Chinese cities by measure of GDP in 2020, except Wuhan, all registered a positive growth between 1 percent and 5 percent, making China stand out in the world's economies.

In terms of regional development, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta retained their advantages in economic, environmental and social fronts. Among the top 100 Chinese cities in comprehensive ranking, 21 cities are from the Yangtze River Delta, and 12 from the Pearl River Delta. Among the top 10 cities, four are from the Yangtze River Delta. With labor division and cooperation strengthening within the region, city clusters and metropolitan areas serve as a pacesetter, and emerging advantages in regional competition become a key carrier in international competition and cooperation.

Some cities performed differently, though the overall ranking is largely static. In 2020, quite a few cities along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River fared well, except some cities in Hubei. For instance, Hefei climbed from 26th to 21st, Zhuzhou from 71st to 68th, Jiujiang from 98th to 89th. In contrast, northern Chinese cities slipped in their rankings. From 2018 to 2020, Shenyang dropped from 19th to 26th, Harbin from 29th to 34th, Changchun from 30th to 36th, Yinchuan from 67th to 81st, and Hohhot from 56th to 82nd. Their ranking rejig resulted from their changes in economic, environmental and social indexes, echoing the Chinese old saying, "A boat sailing against the currents has to forge ahead or risks falling behind."

Cities also differed in their rankings of industrial radiation. On one hand, industries that do not fit the mega cities began to relocate in 2020, with Shanghai and Guangzhou falling by two spots compared with 2018. On the other hand, cities boasting good scientific and technological and industrial foundations and a large talent pool caught up, with Chengdu, Xi'an, Nanjing, and Wuxi climbing by four to seven spots, and Wuhan and Xiamen making their way into the top 10. This reveals that labor division in cities have become reasonable and central cities have played a bigger role.

Any index system cannot be perfect and impeccable in any case. The Index, however, can easily and clearly measure the comparable strength of cities and their progress. A close examination of the Index gives me insights from different perspectives.

Zhou Muzhi, head of Cloud River Urban Research Institute and professor at Tokyo Keizai University

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Cloud River Urban Research Institute has paid close attention to the effectiveness of prevention measures and the performance of Chinese cities in the outbreak. On April 17, 2020, the institute released the report "COVID-19: Why is medical system in metropolises so vulnerable?" analyzed why international metropolises were crippled by the collapse of medical systems amid COVID-19 pandemic and assessed the measures adopted by Wuhan in the outbreak and recommended its measures to other countries. The article "Global COVID-19 responses: 'Zero COVID-19 Case Policy' vs 'Coexisting with COVID-19 Policy'," published on Nov 11, 2020, compared Chinese prevention and control measures to their Western and Japanese counterparts, and assessed the effectiveness of "Zero COVID-19 Case Policy." Those reports and articles, all available in English and Japanese versions, helped the international community to understand the effectiveness of Chinese prevention and control measures.

At the same time, the institute gathered experts to research and discuss the impact of the pandemic on globalization, international metropolises, global supply chains, and IT, entertainment, aviation, and maritime industries in the form of theses, reports, dialogues, and seminars.

Based on the previous four editions of "China Integrated City Index" and the above research, the China Integrated City Index 2020 focuses on Chinese cities' success in beating back the virus as well as the impact of the epidemic on related industries, and delivers the "health checkup" of Chinese cities amid the epidemic.

The China Integrated City Index 2020 shows that China's economic prowess lies in its strong resilience of leading cities and effective anti-epidemic measures provide a solid foundation for China's urban development.

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